


Tear

by MajoMagica



Series: Eradicate [1]
Category: Kagerou Project, Mekakucity Actors
Genre: Acid Burns, Boot Worship, Chinese Water Torture, Gen, Revenge, implied tooth gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 16:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8020591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MajoMagica/pseuds/MajoMagica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking place in the timeline after Rend, Mary continues her revenge using more psychological tactics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tear

Drip, drip, drip.

 

The water drops landed between Kuroha's eyes in their usual irregular pattern.  One landed in his eye and he squeezed his eyes shut to keep any more of them out (usually no use).  Whenever he closed his eyes he had the irrational vision of the water hollowing his forehead out like a stone underneath the current of a river.

 

He took a deep breath.  He had to think of something else or he'd really go crazy.  There was no way he would give that medusa what she wanted, not while he still had a say in it.  His pride wouldn't allow it, no matter what bizarre mind games she wanted to play with him.

 

The door swung open with a creaking sound.  He heard the light footsteps he had grown used to, belonging to Kozakura Mary.

 

"Hello, I'm here," she chirped.

 

"I can still hear you."

 

"Just making sure," Mary was carrying some sort of deep bucket making sloshing noises, no doubt more water, "Anyway, I have something special for you today~  You must be getting pretty bored after all this time, right?"

 

Kuroha snorted derisively.

 

Mary faced into Kuroha's narrow viewpoint and raised the bucket up for him to see.  "I've taken the opportunity to change things up a bit.  This time the mixture is- well, you'll figure it out soon enough."

 

Mary emptied the remaining water out of his drip and poured her bucket into it.  Kuroha savored his brief relief from the constant flow of water.  Within a few minutes the new supply was about ready to resume the constant pounding of water into his face.

 

The liquid started to drip onto his forehead.  It stung a little and had a strange acrid smell, but other than that, he wouldn't be able to discern it from normal water.  This was it?  There must be some trick to this.

 

"Have you figured out what my special mixture is yet?"

 

Kuroha clenched his teeth but remained uncomfortably silent.

 

Mary sighed.  "Well...  I think you'll have the answer by the time I come visit again tomorrow.  I'll see you later~"  Mary grabbed some paperback off a sidetable in the observation part of his cell and made her exit from the room.

 

And then he was alone again.  The stinging liquid pounded against his head, even harder to ignore than the water.  Was that the trick?  The more drops that fell against his skin, the more it felt like a headache and the less it felt like water.  The urge to wipe it away from his face was stronger than ever, but he was all too aware of the ropes still tying his arms to the table.

 

Drip, drip, drip.

 

The liquid burned his eyes whenever a drop splashed into them, much stronger than he had expected.  It was starting to make his eyes water.  He tried to shift his head enough so that so much of it wouldn't get into his eyes, to no avail.  His right eye, where most of the drops ran down his face to, twitched and pulsed involuntarily.

 

Drip, drip, drip.

 

It had been an hour since he was put under the new drip and he was writhing underneath it.  Whatever was in the drip burnt like firey hell, but he was the Clearing Eyes Snake, he could grit his teeth and take it like an adult.

 

Drip, drip, drip.

 

Something was, very, very wrong.  Even though he was sure not that much time had passed since Mary had switched what was in the drip, it felt like he was going insane or that someone was driving a pickaxe into his skull.  He could hardly keep his eyes open anymore, and when he could, his vision had gone so fuzzy and full of dark spots that he couldn't read the clock on the other end of the room anymore.  His heart was beginning to rise into his throat.

 

Drip, drip, drip.

 

It felt like an eternity between each drop hitting his face.  No matter how tightly he squeezed his eyes, he couldn't keep it from getting into his eyes, like some animal trying to tear his eyes out with it's teeth.  His breaths were short, rapid, and panicked, he had long since lost track of how long it had been since this torture began.  He could hear the ticking of the clock taunting him, he hadn't slept a wink since, and Mary hadn't shown up again to explain any of it to him in that humbly bragging voice of her's. 

 

He was starting to miss her company.  Now all that was in here with him was the cool hum of the air conditioning and the fast beating of his own heart.  Even if Mary was everything that he hated nowadays, she was still a living thing.

 

Drip, drip, drip.

 

It felt like it had been centuries since the beginning.  At least days, or weeks.  He hadn't been fed the entire time, his lips were beginning to crack from thirst as much as from the chemicals.  He had given up on licking them, the liquid had gotten on his tongue and from there into his mouth.

 

He was actually starting to worry that Mary would leave him here until he died of thirst or the chemical bored down to his skull, whichever came first.  A shiver of fear ran down his spine, he imagined the sight of his corpse, face melted by acid until it was unrecognizable, limbs contorted into an expression of unimaginable terror.  It felt like he couldn't get enough air into his lungs.  He couldn't stop imagining his own corpse, rotten and eaten by worms.

 

The door opened.

 

\--

 

"Did you miss me?"  Mary smiled, or at least he thought she was based on her tone of voice.  His vision had gone almost entirely.

 

He felt someone touch one of the restraints on his ankles.  

 

"I'm going to let you out for a little bit, okay?  Don't try anything."

 

The restraints on his ankles came loose and then the ones on his wrists.  Kuroha tried his hardest not to make any sudden moves lest he frighten Mary and be put back under the spray, but he still sprung up away from it.  He rubbed his eyes with his fists.

 

He heard a sigh of exasperation.  "You shouldn't touch your eyes, you'll get more of it on your hands and you're just rubbing it in more."  She grabbed his face.  "Here, let me see."  He felt a hankerchief dab at his face, wiping away some of the chemical on his face.

 

He took a deep breath and sniffled.  "What was that...?"

 

"O-oh, you mean what I put in your drip?  I thought you'd know, but... oh well.  It was bleach, diluted with a little bit of water so you wouldn't get hurt too badly.  I'm not that much of a monster,"  Mary giggled to herself.

 

Bleach...!

 

He fought the growing nausea in his stomach and throat.  Did that mean that he was going to be blinded permanently...?

 

She planted a kiss on his forehead.  "This is punishment for what you did, lest you forget.  I'll never let you."

 

That was a snapping point after everything he'd endured up to this point.  "I never did anything to you, you bitch!" Kuroha yelled.

 

Mary's tone grew cold.  "I was going to feed you, but if you're going to be like that..."

 

He was still angry, but the thought of food and survival outweighed his anger on the hierarchy of needs.

 

Mary read the look on his face and pat his head.  "Of course, I'm willing to forgive you...  All you have to do is kiss my foot and I'll forget about that little outburst and you'll get to eat.  Win/win."

 

The sheer hatred he felt made his stomach feel hot.  He was willing to shut up in exchange for food, but kiss her feet...?  His stomach growled and he realized how long it had been since his last meal.  It was just once, and he needed to keep up his strength to keep fighting, he reasoned to himself.

 

Mary cupped his face in her hands.  "You'll do it, won't you?"

 

Kuroha hesitated and then nodded.  He could make her pay later.

 

"I'm so glad~"  Mary grabbed hold of the back of his head and slowly lowered him down to the ground.  Kuroha felt around for a moment before finding her feet.  He grasped one with both hands.  He hesitated for a moment, but planted a soft kiss against it.  He noticed how soft her feet were, they smelled floral like lotion.

 

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Mary said, "I made us a full meal with nikujaga and side dishes to enjoy~"  she grabbed him under one arm and lifted him back to his feet, "Let's get going before it gets cold."

-

He picked at the bowl of rice.

 

"You see, this isn't the first time we've met, or the first time I've made you pay, or even the first time I've kept you here.  I'm over 3,000 years old by now, most of it because you forced my hand." Mary laughed bitterly at him, "But you shouldn't call me an old lady."

 

3000 years?  Kuroha discarded it as ridiculous, the rambling of a crazed woman.  But he was the prisoner of this crazed woman, so it carried a certain amount of weight that it wouldn't otherwise.

 

Either way, he laughed at her to her face.

 

The silence that followed didn't make it seem like Mary was too happy.  

 

"You know what?  I bought you a present." she said.

 

He heard the sound of footsteps going farther away and then returning.  

 

"You want to shake the box?" asked Mary.  He shook his head.  What was she getting at?

 

He felt a cold weight press against his throat as Mary snapped it closed around his neck.  He ran his fingers against it.  A choke chain...?  

 

"Isn't it great?  Now, whenever you misbehave, I can pull on the chain and you'll behave!"

-

He buried his face in her skirts and tried not to cry in front of her.

 

He seemed to have taken Mary aback.  "Hey, shh, it's okay."

 

No matter what he thought, he couldn't help the feeling of helplessness.  The chain around his neck felt tighter and tighter.

 

She started stroking his hair.  The hair on the back side of his neck stood up, but he was too desperate to care.

 

"You've been a very good boy," Mary grabbed his chin and pulled him up to look at her.  "How about I wash your face a little, huh?  Just sit tight for now,"  She untangled him from her knees and walked into the hallway. 

 

When she returned for him, she had a bucket full of water and a washcloth.  Kuroha couldn't help but perk up at the thought of getting the rest of the chemicals off of his face, it burnt so badly he could hardly stand it.

 

She brushed his bangs aside and wetted the washcloth in the bucket.  When she started to scrub his face, the water was warm.  He had missed warmth, even though he hadn't realized it while on the table.  Her hands, when they brushed against his face, were soft and warm as well.

-

No no no no no, he wouldn't just give up and become her pet, he was strong, he was proud, he was the Clearing Eyes Snake.

 

"What's wrong?" she looked at him with a hard to read expression.

 

He lept at her with all of his remaining strength and knocked her to the floor,  hands around her neck.  She gasped in surprise and, he noted with satisfaction, fear.

 

"Kuroha, unhand me."  she swallowed, obviously trying to calm herself.

 

"Die, die...!" he whispered.  Her face hardened and she flipped him off her nearly effortlessly.

 

"Good boys don't strangle people."

 

He backed up against the wall, sensing Mary's dangerous mood.  She grabbed a pair of pliers off the table.

 

"Say ah."

-

He could hear the sound of footsteps approaching from the hallway.  Kuroha pressed an ear to the door, struggling to hear as much as possible from whoever was coming towards his room.  There were two pairs of footsteps.

 

"-Everyone back at home base is still really worried about you, yaknow?  It's been almost a year since you showed your face around there.  They're starting to be afraid that you're dead," a boy's voice spoke.

"I'm so sorry...  I-it's just that something important came up really suddenly, a-and...  Oh!  Right, I made you a present!"  That voice...  Mary?

 

The boy's voice whistled.  "A present in some place like this?  You must be cooking up something big."

 

"Mhmm!  Umm, it's just..."

 

"What is it?"

 

Mary's voice dropped down an octave.  "You've met the clearing eyes snake, haven't you?  He killed Ayano and Kenjirou Tateyama to further his own goals."  Uncontrollably, goosebumps began to form up and down Kuroha's arms.

 

"How do you know about that?"

 

"It's a long story, but..."

 

Kuroha jumped back from the door.  Light flooded his room as the door swung open.

 

"...What is that?"  Kano looked at him like he was trash on the side of a highway.  Kuroha felt self-conscious about his appearance despite himself.  Under normal circumstances he would never allow Kano to look at him in this state, the barely scarred burns on his face, the matted patches in his hair, the dark bags under his eyes

 

"You know the Clearing Eyes Snake that we were talking about...?"

 

Kano took a moment to process.  "So what you're saying is /that's/ the Clearing Eyes Snake?"

 

Mary nodded and leaned over Kuroha.  "It's okay, we haven't come to hurt you as long as you're a good boy," she murmered.  He looked at Mary with a kind of fear that Kano hadn't ever seen in him before, but when his eyes flickered back over to Kano, Kano could see a pinch of familiar disgust in his gaze.

 

Kano swallowed thickly.  "You're sure this is safe?"

 

"Even if he did still want to hurt people, he only weights about 95 pounds right now and he doesn't have any canine teeth left.  Say ah."

 

Kuroha glanced up at Mary to read her expression and opened his mouth slightly when he saw the mad look in her eyes.  Mary stuck her fingers in his mouth and pulled it open wide enough for Kano to see the four smooth sections of gum where his sharp teeth used to be.

"If I were a good person, I would be horrified.  If I were a good person."

 

Kano bent down and flicked him in the forehead.  "I guess he has more bark than he has bite now.  And he has eyes like a dead fish.  What did you do to him? "

 

Mary giggled nervously.  "Well, this whole building is mine now since I control him, sooooo...  I renovated one of the empty storage rooms into a cell for water torture."

 

"He got like this with just water torture and a little amateur dentistry?" Kano tsked.

 

"No, no, after a month or two of the water torture, I was sure that I wasn't getting anywhere, so I swapped the water out with diluted bleach.  See," Mary lifted up Kuroha's bangs to show Kano the remains of the chemical burns on his face, "I stopped early, so he can still mostly see.  I've not done anything too physically extreme since then, though."

 

"What about his teeth?"

 

"Oh, that.  We were definitely making progress after I took him off the bleach, but he gave one last hurrah later and tried to tear my throat open with his teeth, so they had to go."

 

"May I?"

 

Kano stepped on his chest.  Kuroha groaned and averted his eyes from Kano.

 

If Mary was hiding enough strength all this time to turn his big sister's killer and his former tormentor into a quivering wreck, Kano wasn't sure that he wanted to be associated with her either.


End file.
